Mansura firefighters save man’s life in Shreveport

Members of the Mansura Fire Department are credited with saving a Dallas man’s life while attending a conference in Shreveport on July 21.

Nicole Bordelon said the firefighters went to lunch at a local restaurant during a break from the Louisiana State Fireman’s Association conference.

She said she and her husband, Fire Chief Kenny Bordelon, were accompanied by Paramedic Capt. Brady Warnersdorfer and his wife, Hailey; EMT Basic Capt. Beau Juneau; First Responder May Dupas; Junior Firefighter Jordyn Bordelon; fireman Kenneth Prior and past Bordelonville Fire Chief Russ Desselle, who now lives in Missouri.

The group had just finished their meal when a man jumped up, laid his father on the floor and ripped open his shirt.

“Before the man hit the floor, the Mansura firemen were up out of their seats ready to help,” Nicole Bordelon said.

The son was a registered nurse who was there with his parents. He had picked them up in Alabama, where they had been hospitalized after an auto accident. They were on their way back to Dallas when they stopped for lunch. They were seated next to the Mansura firemen.

Nicole, an RN, stood with the man’s wife and consoled her while the firemen worked on her husband. She said the man had no pulse for 15-20 seconds, and then his heart was restarted and he began to cough and breathe.

Shreveport Fire/EMS responded to the 911 call a few minutes later and took the man and his family to a nearby hospital. The Mansura firefighters later received word the man was doing well.

They learned later that the hospital in Alabama had failed to detect internal bleeding in his stomach that was caused by the auto accident.

After the VFD members helped load the man into the ambulance, they went back inside. When Chief Bordelon went to pay the bill, he was told the bill had been paid.

“No, no. I need to pay for our meals,” the chief said.

The waitress said, “No, you don’t understand. That group of ladies right there took care of the bill for the entire group!” The waitress pointed to a group of about eight women.

Bordelon hugged the ladies and thanked them for their action.

When he said they didn’t have to do that, they immediately replied that they had never seen anything like what had happened in the restaurant and they just wanted to thank them for everything they did.

“These firemen and junior firemen put their lives on the line for their citizens throughout the year and don’t get much thanks,” Bordelon said. “But in this case, they felt an extra sense of pride on top of the pride they felt by helping another human being. They were thanked in a way that they don’t receive very often.”

Bordelon asked that citizens express their thanks to firemen, EMS, law enforcement officers, dispatchers, nurses/aides, doctors and others in the emergency response field “because they all appreciate it and deserve it.”